1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to personal response systems. In particular, it relates to personal response systems providing automated testing of help consoles and personal transmitters and automated communication of personal transmitter battery and personal transmitter system status to a response center.
2. Background Art
Personal response systems (PRS) have been used for a variety of applications. A basic PRS consists of a response center, help consoles, and personal transmitters. Typically, the response center is a hub facility with communication lines available to communicate with one or more help consoles. The help consoles are typically placed in dwellings where a user can activate the help console in an emergency. Personnel at the response center can take appropriate action when the help signal is activated by the help console. Optionally, a personal transmitter can be carried by the user to trigger the help console alarm in the event the user is unable to physically reach the help console.
A PRS can be put to use in a variety of situations. For example, a variety of industrial operations can employ a PRS to alert response center personnel of potential problems in various locations of a plant facility. A PRS can utilize sensor devices to automatically trigger fire alarms and notify the appropriate response center.
In addition to the foregoing, PRS's have found extensive use as support systems for older and/or disabled individuals. A serious concern among many such individuals is the possibility that they may be injured or otherwise need help and be unable to contact anyone. By having a help console at their home, an individual can contact a response center by pressing a personal transmitter button or equivalent on the help console. This provides dispatch of help which may be vital to the individual depending on the nature of the emergency. In addition, it also provides a measure of reassurance and peace of mind to these individuals because they know they can obtain help in an emergency by activating the help console.
In addition to the button located on the help console, a PRS may also have a personal transmitter which may be carried on the individual's person. This typically is a small battery operated transmitter which enables the individual to activate the help console remotely. This is of advantage when the individual is immobilized and cannot reach the help console.
The three basic components of the PRS are the response center, the help console, and the personal transmitter. When a response center receives an emergency signal from a help console, personnel at the response center open a two way channel with the party requesting help or take other action as required. The help console typically uses telephone lines for economic efficiency. However, a variety of technologies may be implemented to accomplish communication between the help console and the response station, such as cellular telephone transmission, radio, microwave links, etc. In addition, multiple redundant links may be used to protect against a failure in a given communication line. Likewise, the personal transmitter may use a variety of technologies to communicate with the help console, such as infrared, ultrasonic, radio, etc.
In addition to the communication of a help request, as discussed above, some systems have help console speakerphone arrangements. The integration of a speakerphone into the help console allows the personnel at the response center to speak directly to the individual at the help console. In turn, the exact nature of the problem can be determined quickly and in more detail.
The emergency signal may be activated from the help console or the personal transmitter. However, if the individual user is incapacitated in some way and cannot reach the help station, then the only way to activate the help console and alert the response center is with the personal transmitter. Since it may often be the only method of summoning help, the operational readiness of the personal transmitter is highly important. Further, since the personal transmitter is battery operated the status of the personal transmitter battery is a factor in overall effectiveness of the PRS. Previously, attempts have been made to test the condition of the help console, and the personal transmitter and its associated battery by having the response center periodically query some or all of the help consoles to ensure that the help console is operational. As part of the test of the personal transmitter, the individual would press the help button on the personal transmitter and the help console would indicate whether it received the signal from the personal transmitter. In the event of a fault, the individual would take appropriate steps to correct the problem, typically by first replacing the battery and then taking the personal transmitter in for service if the fault remained after the new battery was installed. The disadvantage to this approach is the impact on the response center in terms of the time and manpower it requires to perform this type of testing on large networks of help consoles. A further disadvantage is that the individual user must take some affirmative action to accomplish the test.
An individual acting alone could periodically test the unit and call the response center if the help console indicated a problem. However, testing by this method is also problematic in that the individual users still have to take some affirmative action. There is a significant possibility that many personal transmitters would never be tested in this manner because the individual would simply forget to perform the test. As a result, testing of the help consoles and personal transmitters with either of the foregoing methods is expensive and time consuming due to the need for active human intervention.
In addition to the demands on labor, by directing tests from the response center a significant burden is placed on response center system resources. In large networks of help consoles, the response center may only be able to test help consoles and personal transmitters infrequently. For example, a month or more may pass before a given unit is tested. As a result, many individuals may have inoperative personal transmitters or help units for extended periods which increases their risk of not being able to obtain help when required.
While existing PRS systems have provided significant benefit to individuals, they have not addressed the problem of excessive labor cost by hospital personnel and manual intervention by individual users when testing system components such as the help console or personal transmitter. Likewise, the prior art has failed to provide a timely testing procedure which allows equipment problems to be identified at the earliest date.